Maybe an old Ford 9n tractor with a used rotary cutter.
A small tractor might be able to handle a 5ft cutter, but most likely a 4ft.
It will not be a comfortable ride.

And it will probably stay broke down more than it will run.

I can respect a budget, 2k to maintain 10 acres is a big ask.

I ran across a JD 1145 72in cut with 3500 hours a few years ago, $1600. Put another 1k in it. It’s been good. But I don’t trust it. Those old JD front decks are out there, just gotta keep searching.

Spent my summers in High School and some college running a 15 ft batwing, 6 foot bush hog, one behind a large JD, the other a smaller Ford or the JD, depending on what was available, cutting 200 plus acres on the main farm and 75 on the smaller one.

When you finished, you'd start right back over..

Which is why size matters when it comes to cutting larger parcels, especially if it's a weekend job.


In this case, a bigger deck is important, small decks won't cut it...

https://www.landscapecalculator.com/calculators/mow


Some google fu and landscape calculator says:

1) 48 inch deck will cut 0.9 to 1.1 acres and hour and it would take 8 to 10 hours to mow 10 acres.

2) A 60 inch will cover an 1.8 acres an hour, so 6 hours, size does matter

3) A 6ft bush hog can cover over 2.5 acres and hour, making it a 4 hour job....

You might be best to get the Ford running and find a 6 ft bush hog to put behind it with t he $2K. Providing you can put up some secure storage for it..

Then again, if you are looking for two days on the farm, away from everything to get away, 48 to 60 inch decks will do the job.

You'll want a good set of headphones that drown out the mower sounds and play tunes or stories, podcasts, some beer and several cigars to cut that much in a long day.

Be sure it has lights too!

BTW heres a 5 ft bush hog, several others listed sub $1K.

Link

I considered replacing my 21" Toro commercial walk-behind mower. It was $800 about twenty years ago, $2000 today.

In our Montana home I mowed 5 acres for 20 years. I started with a new $3,500 John Deere. After about 5 years it began falling apart. Not because the lawn was rough, rather it was a piece of you-know-what. The yard was very smooth. I traded it on a Kubota 30 HP Zero turn gas mower. 15 years later it ran like new. Lesson learned. Not only was it a pleasure to operate, but it cut the yard in about half the time.

quote:

Originally posted by Gene Hillman:
Read doublesharp above. He is right. I'm not sure a $2000 mower can cut the grass you are talking about. If it can it will be creeping. I have a 24 horse John Deere diesel, 60 inch deck and it has its hands full if the grass gets to 6" and I cut it to 3". What you need for that job is a 40-50 horse tractor with a 6 foot mower or you will be spending hours/days just to mow it once. Can you borrow a mower and try it to see if it works with what you have? I don't think a 20 HP mower will do that job. Could you find anyone interested in it as hay? Best of luck whatever you decide! Could you hire it done by someone who has a tractor and mower to mow it and get it under control then you take it over when it is 4 inches tall? I don't know what the going rate for one mow of that height would be. Around here a neighbor would cut it and bale it for hay if the field was clear of rocks and trash.

This is where my mind went. They’ll fight for ditch hay up here. Take a look at the weed spectrum and think about spraying, the hay would be a much more attractive option.

Second thought is renting a mower tractor, perhaps a bush hog type. 10 acres is quite a bit for a $2000 mower to be cutting once a month.

What did your cousin use? Borrow it.

quote:

Originally posted by marksman41:
John Deere 318

quote:

Originally posted by marksman41:
having a spare of anything is nice

Geographically, this is probably a mess, but... I have a spare 38" deck that goes to the 316/318/322 series mowers. I'd love to re-home it.

Bunch of goats?

Ford 8N and a bush hog is about the cheapest solution I can think of.

quote:

It had not been mowed since November, we have had crazy rain with tons of flooding, the grass was crazy wet, over knee high, and rained almost my entire time mowing today.

That's gonna be tough on any mower.

I don’t see how you mow 10 acres with $2,000 worth of equipment in a reasonably period of time.

Between a few empty lots, my house, and my parent’s house I had five acres to mow. If it didn’t rain, I could do it in a day with a lawn tractor. My house was 3/4s of an acre and would take an hour and forty-five minutes. I lucked into an eXmark ZTR with a new motor for $3,000 and cut my time in half. At my house alone, it knocked a full hour off because I had trees to go around and the ZTR shines with maneuverability.

During college, I spent two summers getting paid to mow 36 acres at an apartment complex. It would take 2 1/2 days with the diesel Hustler with and 72” deck.

How much is your time worth? Would your time be better spent with you family or mowing the grass, especially at your fun place?

I have 2.5 acres. When we moved here in 2008 I bought a used ~1977 IH LoBoy with a 60" belly mower. I restored it. While the 60" deck is great, the 4 cylinder mower is anemic, especially at 7,400 feet elevation. It would struggle to cut more than 3" or so, it would just get bogged down.

While I still have the Lo Boy, a few years ago I picked up a used (50 hours) Husqvarna GT 48DXLS mower. It has a Kawasaki engine and Hydro-static transmission. The hydro-static transmission is key. You can slow the tractor down but keep the engine RPMs high, which really helps in thick grass. I think I paid about $2,000 for it on FB Marketplace.

The second picture is what it looked like when I trailered it home.

I’d check around for a used zero turn. 10 acres would take forever to mow with a lawn tractor type mower.

Mowing only once a month means mowing tall grass. Consumer grade equipment is not going to hold up to that. I would look into financing something like a Kubota BX and take advantage of the zero down/84 month/1.99% financing. You are looking at a $200 or so payment. That $2000 would get you almost a years worth of payments. My daughter built a house a few years ago and purchased 12 acres of land to go with it. More than half of that is cut for the hay a few times a year free of charge. There are always locals willing to do that around here.

I have four acres. Before I gat a zero turn, I was using an ATV with a Swisher that had a 60 inch deck.
You could use a tractor and tow the Swisher behind it and get 8-9ft if you have a 48 inch cutting deck on the tractor.

Here is a John Deere 318 in Winchester, KY:

https://www.tacauctions.com/hs...ccountCRMID=17188014

I use to mow my whole 6 acres but in the summer the ground can dry out so I stopped mowing around the trees since the tall grass shades the ground.

I started leaving other areas unmowed for several months since it provides insects for the turkeys and birds.

An old commercial walk behind would serve you well.

https://www.machinefinder.com/...c_mowers_walk_behind

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
An old commercial walk behind would serve you well.

https://www.machinefinder.com/...c_mowers_walk_behind

You're one helluva man if you can do 10 acres behind an old 60" walk behind.

And your link was all 36" mowers.

I don't see any way to get what you need done for $2000.
Anything you might buy will be destroyed in short order trying to cut 10 acres of wild grass, you will end up with $2000 down the drain.
You say all your neighbors are quite a distance away so I assume they would not be open to a group purchase.

As this property is also a distance from where you live, getting there to maintain the property is not easy and waiting a month between mowing only makes the problem worse.
Either hire somebody to do the job and see if other family members would help with that cost, Sell the property, or let the grass go and mow only a small area around the structures.

One other thought, Buy something newer, and powerful enough that can do the job and you can use at your main residence. Buy a used trailer with the $2000 and trailer it to the property for the grass work.

Don't throw good money after bad.

quote:

Originally posted by doublesharp:

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
An old commercial walk behind would serve you well.

https://www.machinefinder.com/...c_mowers_walk_behind

You're one helluva man if you can do 10 acres behind an old 60" walk behind.

And your link was all 36" mowers.

Oh, I agree, and the link was just to show the type. But they can be had for a reasonable price and are tough enough for the job.